Until We Bleed
by SHSL Slacker
Summary: Johto's been taken over. Nightmarish creatures have flooded the region and threaten to destroy it. When Skye, a girl with the handy ability to survive crises rather than avoid them, rises from the ashes of New Bark, will she be able to live through this destruction and find out about the aliens? And yet, therein lies a deeper, darker secret that resides in Skye herself...
1. 00: Never

"_Take it and go!"_

She could have stayed. She _should_ have stayed. Stayed and waited for their death by the hands of Them. It was a fitting ending; stay with the only person she knew, and the only person she's ever loved. Stay with him so that they could die together in each other's arms and never have to worry about a thing again.

But she didn't. She didn't take the promise of death. She had the shut the door in Death's face and ran away from her fate. She had taken her ticket out of the Grim Reaper's abode and ran like hell was right behind her.

"_What are you waiting for?! Hurry! Run away!"_

She can still hear the inhumane screeches of them. She can still feel the heat of the crackling flames swirling around her and her brother, the crumbling shafts of wood from their roof, the thumping on the door as they threatened to break in at any moment –

And she had left him all alone there, all alone to face the wrath of them. She left him to die alone, when he had always been there for her for everything. And _she_ – the rotten human being she is – _left_ him.

"_But you'll – you'll–"_

"_Who cares what happens to me! All that matters is _you_! Just run, okay? Don't die – live! If not for yourself, then live for _me_!"_

She ran away because she was a coward. A stupid, spineless coward who cared nothing for other people. She was the worst kind of person, because she had been _scared_. And being _scared_ – that was unneeded. Fear was an emotion that people should never have discovered, because it _didn't exist_.

But she, of all people, should know that fear existed everywhere, whether she liked it or not.

_She fell to her knees, charred grass tickling her skin, choked sobs escaping her throat. Tears trickled out of her eyes, streaming down her cheeks, dribbling down her chin, and splotching her face worse than it was already burnt._

Fear was unneeded. Fear was unnecessary. Fear was _pointless_. And if fear really was all those things, then she promised herself – she would never need to feel fear again, for then it wouldn't need to exist.

Skye promised herself that, on that dark day, when New Bark Town burned to ashes behind her and left none alive but her.

* * *

It started with rocks.

Every night, at least five rocks would come out of nowhere and land in their backyard, making either big, really big, or rhydon-sized craters beneath them. Skye detested having to be put to the task of cleaning them out with Pongo and Nadine's help every morning when she hadn't even brushed her hair or opened her eyes all the way yet.

On the first day the rocks had come, Skye had gone into the backyard to check up on her plants, still yawning and rubbing her eyes. When she fully comprehended the sight of twelve rocks lying around their yard in twelve different shapes and twelve different sizes, she immediately backed inside the house and slammed the door shut.

"Rocks coming out of nowhere is _not_ a natural phenomenon," Skye argued.

Ryan gave her a raised eyebrow. "They're just rocks. Clean them out with Pongo or whoever, I gotta get to work." With that, he scooped up the last of his cereal, drained the milk out of the bowl, grabbed his car keys, and zoomed out of the door before Skye could pin the chore on him. "Bye!"

"Ass." Nevertheless, Skye grabbed the great ball marked with a boulder sticker on the front and threw it open. "Pongo, we've got some work to do."

Pongo was Ryan's rhydon, who moved on intelligence as well as brute strength. Her brother was ridiculously lucky to have caught one instead of yet another geodude, and a smart rock-type pokemon at that. Really, most of the Johtoans had bad impressions about rock-types by the way every single graveler that popped out in a cave wanted to blow up in front of them.

But the rocks kept coming. Day after day, Skye would wake up to find their backyard littered with rocks that seemed to multiply by the morning. Pongo would get tired after too much of the work every day (and he would start complaining, which wasn't pleasing to the ears), so sometimes Skye would have to let him rest for a couple of days while Nadine, Ryan's feraligatr, would take over for him.

The beginning of the apocalypse started out like every other normal day. Skye woke up, Ryan woke up, Skye went to brush her teeth and take a bath, Ryan fell asleep again despite Pongo's insistent stomping, Skye went out to pour cereal and milk in a bowl for her brother, Ryan sat up on the edge of his bed and fell asleep on the floor, and then Skye went out to the backyard.

That was when everything started.

"Pongo, it's your turn today!" Skye yelled as loud as she could, because being heard over her brother's snores was a feat in itself.

Obediently, but somewhat grudgingly, the rhydon trudged in and cracked his knuckles in preparation. Skye pushed open the door, already expecting the familiar sight of a bunch of rocks lying around on their yard like they paid rent, but instead of _just_ rocks, there were… cracked rocks.

Pongo looked down at his trainer's younger sister as if waiting for her usual command, but Skye just stood there and stared at the rocks with confusion. The only really notable thing about the rocks that came every night was that they were always smooth and there was never a crack on their being. So seeing the rugged, cracked rocks looked like a slap on Skye's cheek – she was so used to patterns that if there was even one thing thrown out of place, she wouldn't be able to do anything much.

"Don," Pongo grunted impatiently.

Skye shook her head. These were just rocks, after all! It didn't matter if they were smooth or rough; the only thing that did matter was that they were taking up space in their yard and flattening her plants. "Uh – yeah. Sure, go ahead."

Pongo rolled his eyes and proceeded to roll the rocks over like he did every morning. But just as he started to move one, it split in half.

The rhydon let out a surprised roar and jumped away, the earth quaking underneath him. Skye gawked as the rock broke into two, revealing some sort of hideous abomination. It looked like a squeezed octillery that was forcefully stuck on what looked like really long and really thin bird feet. The… _creature_ – as there really was no other way to refer to it as – was completely white, like something had sucked all the blood out of it, and had what looked like a dozen tentacles hanging off of it.

It made a gurgling sound and made to lurch over towards Skye. Panicking, she shrieked and stumbled backwards, gesturing for Pongo to _do something_, damnit!

The rhydon immediately grabbed a nearby rock and smashed it on the creature's head. Pongo didn't dare lift the rock until he was sure it wasn't moving anymore – that is, until a wet, slimy tentacle emerged from under the rock and formed into a harpoon. Skye couldn't even blink before the harpoon's tip was jutting out of her brother's rhydon's back.

Pongo roared. He fell to the ground, the earth shaking even more, and his hold on the rock loosened. The creature wriggled out, retracting its harpoon-tentacle out of Pongo's limp body and waved it around threateningly. It didn't seem to have eyes (visible ones, at least), but Skye could tell it was staring straight at her. Then it associated her with the rhydon it had just killed and lunged.

Skye screamed, eyes going unnaturally wide as she flung the door open, jumped inside, and slammed the door shut just as the creature's harpoon-tentacle was inches away from her chest. The tentacle was caught in the door and Skye immediately put as much as force as she could in pushing the door close.

The tentacle snapped off with a disgusting noise, the harpoon clattering to the ground, greenish blood surrounding it. The floorboards made a sizzling noise where the liquid was, and Skye could see the telltale sign of a burn mark.

"Ryan!" she yelled. "Ryan! Ryan, come _here!_"

If there was one thing Ryan knew about his sister, then it was that she had never raised her voice that high and that loud since she was a baby. He stumbled into the room and just barely managed to not choke on his cereal when he saw the harpoon-tentacle lying on the floor, burning a hole on their boards, and still twitching every few seconds.

"What the hell happened here?! And where the hell is Pongo?!"

Skye's breath hitched. "Pongo – they – they – he – Ryan!" He also knew that Skye didn't cry if she didn't need to, and the last time she _did_ cry was at their father's funeral –

He pushed her out of the way, heading straight for the door, tense. His sister's reaction, Pongo's absence despite the rhydon being a clingy type of character, the strange… whatever-it-was on the ground… told Ryan everything he needed to know. "What's out there?"

"Th… _Things_." Skye sniffed. "They – They _killed_ him! J-Just like that…"

Ryan peeked out the window. Outside, he could see the abominations Skye had saw, and narrowed his eyes at Pongo's still body, crimson blood pooling around his midsection. He glanced down at the harpoon-tentacle on the floor, smoke swirling into the air above it, then moved his gaze over to his trembling, shaken sister. 'She_ was near those… things? They're gonna get hell…_'

But when he looked back outside, the creatures seemed to have multiplied; there were now at least five or maybe six of them, crowding around Pongo's body enough that Ryan could barely catch sight of the rhydon's familiar grey hide. They seemed to be talking to one another, though he wasn't an expert on translating alien screeches, and his ears were ringing from the shrill noise they made, even through the window panes. From the corner of his eye, he could see Skye curl up into a tight ball, hands firmly latched onto her ears.

"D-Don't be stupid," Skye spat. Ryan jerked away from the door instinctively, turning to look at his sister. There were still a few stray tears near the corners of her eyes, but she quickly wiped those off and glared up at him, her eyes rimmed with red. "I bet you're gonna try to be some sort of h-hero and try to kick those things out before they do anything worse. Well, too bad! I won't let you!"

Ryan paused. "Then, dear sister, how do you suppose we at least get those things out of our backyard?"

* * *

It was easy, but also very nearly triggered a heart attack for both siblings. Ryan called Nadine out, told her about Pongo as slowly and calmly as he could, and watched the feraligatr rip the creatures apart. Then when the things that hadn't been torn to shreds by Nadine yet noticed the open door, they immediately jumped to it, scaring the daylights out of the siblings. Nadine got there just in time and crushed both the aliens in her jaws.

Once most of the aliens had been taken out and the remaining few struggled to get away, Ryan ordered the feraligatr to throw them out. Nadine gave him a look that clearly said she didn't agree with his plan, but dutifully tossed the aliens (and the rocks that hadn't split open yet) out onto the street. The fence that separated their backyard and the pavement was as tall as Pongo's midsection, so it was unlikely that the aliens would be able to get back in.

The rhydon was buried right there in their backyard, mainly because neither Skye or Ryan would dare step foot outside their safe fortress (read: heavily guarded house). Nadine, his mate, didn't shed any tears, but was silent for the rest of the day.

The aliens proved themselves to be utter bringers of destruction. Through the gaps in the fence, Skye kept watch on the aliens' movements as they ambled about, gathering themselves into one big group as the other aliens from the other rocks that had landed in their neighborhood joined the group. There was a loud conversation that was mostly shrieks and screeches that would put a banshee to shame, but eventually, the aliens tottered out of sight. Skye let out a sigh of relief, patting the male nidoran beside her. West, a stray Ryan picked up a couple weeks ago, made a small noise of comfort and settled down on her lap.

Then there was a loud explosion, and the unmistakable scent of smoke.

Skye sprang to her feet, West tumbling off of her and hissing disapprovingly, but Skye couldn't care less. She looked through the biggest gap she could find and just barely swallowed back another scream; nearly half of the neighborhood had burst into flames. Charred parts of the house were on the ground, blackened remains of the young couple next door and the old man across the street – all dead.

And the dark silhouettes on the long, thin bird feet were coming ever closer.

It didn't take long to get Ryan up and on to the task. With Ryan's pidgeot, Odette, and his fearow, Rothbart, they made a simple roof over their backyard, reaching just until the tips of the fences. It wasn't much, and it would probably break easily, but Ryan had made sure that Rothbart had placed the steel and iron plates exactly where he wanted them to be.

Skye and Nadine boarded up the house with each and every material they could find. The door was barred with a heavy steel pillar that had been lying about in the basement, and the windows were laden with wood planks and a few leftover steel plates. Ryan gave careful instructions to each of his pokemon that at least two of them would always accompany Skye, and for once, the girl didn't try defying it. She wasn't going to put her life on the line just because she thought she, a fifteen-year-old girl with no pokemon of her own to speak of, could handle a bunch of aliens who had burned down half their neighborhood. Even Skye had her limits.

The aliens made several attempts to break into the house. And equally many times, the house almost caught on fire. But thanks to Nadine and Ryan's penchant for surviving crises by raising as many of his water pokemon as he could, they lived through it.

At least, until two years later.

* * *

By then, the aliens had wrought destruction on nearly every other town or city They came across. Cherrygrove was a charred, blackened version of the once bustling city it had been, its flowers no longer blowing in the breeze. Violet was more accurately called Black now – there wasn't a shred of what might have been 'violet' in it. Olivine had gone up in flames and completely wiped off the map. Blackthorn lived up to its name, as the end result of the aliens' visit there had left it much the same as what had happened to Violet City.

They had left New Bark with half of its residents burning to ashes, then abruptly disappeared after that. Really, Skye had expected more. The aliens had stayed for a few months, then left, carrying the stench of death and smoke along with them. Skye had grown used to killing them, and she knew the best places to hit it on with a gun – always on the dried-looking, shriveled mouth it had. That was where they breathed fire, and if it didn't kill them, it would at least incapacitate the thing long enough for another shot to go straight to its brain.

And yes, the things did have brains. There were apparently also varying species of them, since Ryan paid very close attention to what happened outside nowadays. Grainy video clips shared on YouTube, static-laden reports on the radio, and their barely-working TV showing the interviews on the survivors, which were few and far in between. There were some that took on human disguises, but one could easily tell which was which if shown side-by-side with a healthy person. Of course, considering that less than half the population on Johto barely ate more than two meals a day anymore, it was hard telling who the real human between the two was.

There also seemed to be signs of some kind of alien overlord controlling all of these, or whatever. The government had worked hard enough to make a scratchy translator of alien-speech, though it barely worked and had spontaneously combusted after using it twice. But one of the things the aliens had apparently said struck something in Skye; "Disobeying the Lord's orders is a foolish action."

So there definitely was an alien overlord, or something to that extent. If the Lord died, then it would most definitely be much easier to kill the rest of the aliens off. But to do that, one would need several guns, weapons, and the strongest pokemon ever raised to humankind. And only God knows how that would ever happen.

* * *

They were certainly not expecting it.

With the aliens gone if only for a day, Ryan had immediately ran out with a golduck and a dewgong in tow, and came back with arms loaded with canned goods, potions, status healers, pokeballs, and most importantly, two cereal boxes. Koda, the golduck, was dragging what looked like three gallons of water behind him on a wagon.

They had rejoiced, but it didn't last long. A fireball came down from the ceiling and promptly burned the stuff up. Both Skye and Ryan let out enraged yells, and Koda sprang upwards, ready to summon a wave of water.

But when he jumped up, the only thing that came down was a blue blur that crashed back to the floor, blood spilling everywhere on the hole in his chest. Koda was quite obviously dead.

One by one, aliens filled the room. One by one, Ryan's pokemon fell. Water splashed to the floor, cereal was scattered across the ground, and pokeballs rolled around uselessly. The aliens were much, _much_ stronger than any other of them that Ryan and his pokemon had faced, and Nadine couldn't so much as land a scratch on them when a very familiar harpoon pierced her chest and felled her for the last time.

Skye and Ryan were cornered in Ryan's bedroom. Only West and Drew the dewgong remained, both of which were instantly thrown aside by what looked like the lead alien's tentacles. Ryan stood in front of his sister as bravely as he could manage, looking like some sort of martyr with his serene-looking expression. Any other twenty-three-year-old probably would not have been able to pull that off.

The tentacles pierced him, but he moved by the slightest inch and it just barely missed his heart. He toppled to the ground and Drew blasted the aliens with the strongest spurt of water he had ever managed. West had hit his head and lay still on the floor. Skye was by her brother's side in an instant, cradling his head atop her lap.

Like an idiotic hero, he dug out a pokeball from his pocket, stained with blood, and thrust it out to his crying sister. "Here – take it and go."

Skye couldn't even manage words, but shook her head vehemently. In the background, Drew summoned a flurry of icicles and crashed them against the lurching aliens.

"Take it and go!" Ryan cried, his voice strained. Blood leaked out of his mouth, and he normally would have wiped it away. This time, he could barely lift his arm. Skye snatched the pokeball out of his hand, if only so that he could rest his arm on his chest. Ryan could already feel the life oozing out of him (literally. His blood was practically everywhere by this point).

When Skye didn't move, Ryan growled. "What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and go!"

"But you'll – you'll–"

"Who cares what happens to me! All that matters is you! Just run, okay? Don't die – live! If not for yourself, then live for me!"

Red liquid spurted out of the dewgong behind them. Drew collapsed with one final roar. West stirred on the side, the nidoking's eyes fluttering open as he stood up to his full height, stepping in front of his dying trainer and his sister. "King – !"

"I won't let them hurt you anymore," Skye breathed, planted a kiss on his forehead, and whispered, "Sweet dreams, brother."

"See you in purgatory."

Skye pried the wooden planks off the windows and jumped out, just in time to hear the deafening roar from West and the final _thud_ as the nidoking hit the ground.

With tears streaming freely from her eyes, Skye promised herself that as long as she would ever live, she would never have to hear that sound again – the sound of the dead as the aliens' screeches filled her ears.

* * *

**Chapter length _will_ vary.**

**If you're a reader of mine, then you'll know that I haven't updated my two other stories for a while. Reason: I don't have much motivation. My muse never gets up from her couch, opting to stay and watch TV all day despite my incessant nagging, and so I haven't written much for the next chapter(s). Heavy apologies here. So you're wondering - what's with your muse if you wrote _this_ and not your other two? Answer: I've been yearning for some apocalypse scenes these days. That's it.**

**Omega Zekrom is cool and so her OC shall be here. As for everyone else... maybe if I like you enough.**

_**Slacker, 8/16/14**_


	2. 01: Begin

**Pre-Chapter Notes:**

**- I did tell you that update length and time would vary.**

**- Not much to say about this one... just that I'm actively trying my best not to make Skye sound a bit too wangsty, even though it's only been a couple of hours since Ryan. Ah well.**

* * *

Before Nadine and Pongo had died, they had an egg.

It hatched into an absolutely adorable totodile, but Skye had never really gotten to see it. Heck, she didn't even know what Ryan (she bit back tears) had named it, since it was a rather lone-mightyena kind of individual and almost always stayed in its pokeball. It rarely fought, too, and as a result, never rose any higher than level 5.

When she had finally ran a good long distance away from the blackened portion of land people used to call New Bark, Skye dropped to her knees on the grass and spent a while simply crying. She rarely ever did cry these days, but when your brother is dead, your house was burned down to cinders, and you're all alone in the world with nothing but a pokemon you don't even know about, one's bound to cry.

After Skye had regained the strength to get up to her feet again, still wiping a few stray tears, she looked at her surroundings. It was Route 29, the route that was just right ahead of New Bark Town… or, rather, what was left of New Bark, if there was anything left at all. Skye, leaning on a tree, dug out the pokeball that was buried in her jacket pocket and stared at it.

It was a normal, red-and-white pokeball, with a strip of tape on it that read 'WILL'. Skye supposed that was the totodile's name. '_Will, huh…_' Hesitantly, she held the pokeball out and pressed the button on the center.

In a dull flash of red light, the totodile came out, waddling around unsteadily. It looked up at its new trainer with curiosity, blinking its large eyes up at her. "Dile?"

"…" Skye sighed, before bending down to get on eye level with the totodile – or, as Ryan had named it, Will. "H… Hey there."

"Dile… toto, totodile." Will gazed around nervously, eyes widening even further when it saw the rather gloomy background. "Totodile?!"

"Shh! Keep it down," Skye hissed, looking around cautiously. The aliens might still be roaming around, and she didn't want to risk being discovered by them again so soon. Will blinked, before shuffling forward and pressing its scaly body against Skye's leg. She raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Hey, your… your name's Will, right?"

Will nodded in affirmation.

"Alright… so, here's the news. My brother's… d-dead…" It still hurt saying that. "And, and he gave you to me. So I'm your trainer. Yeah."

"Dile?" It cocked its head. Skye blinked, before figuring out it was probably asking a question. Though, _what_ question, she didn't quite know.

"Um, well, for one, I'd want to go out there and find out who's behind all this alien business," Skye said slowly, deciding she might as well make that her personal goal now. Might get her killed in two days' time, but oh well. "And if it's not a problem, I want you to help me with that."

Will frowned, or made an expression that was close to a frown, with its giant mouth and all. "Dile, totodile."

'_But how, exactly… am I going to do that?_' Skye sighed. That was probably what her new pokemon was asking. She could already see that the newborn was much smarter than her. "I don't know yet. But I hope that maybe I – _we_ can stop this alien invasion thing before it gets any worse. There are rumors about it being the end of the world and all, you know? Population's gone down to nine hundred thousand…"

"Eight hundred thousand and twenty three people, actually."

The sudden voice made Skye jump, and she twirled around to see who had been talking in perfect English – she was pretty sure she hadn't seen anyone else in the area… "Who was that?"

There was a beating of wings, and a round, brown bird pokemon landed on a nearby rock. Two large red eyes with black arrow-like appendages poked out from the edges. The hoothoot cocked its head (rather, its entire body) at her, making a small noise. "That was me. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my dear."

A noise that sounded something like a mixture between a gasp and a shriek tore from Skye's throat, and the girl scrabbled to get away from the new arrival. "W-W-Wh-Who are – Why – How can y-you–"

The hoothoot flapped its wings quickly, a panicked expression coming over its face. "Might you be alright, my dear? Shall I get you some water?"

"You're _talking!_" Skye whisper-yelled, trying to muffle herself with a hand. Will stood by her side, looking up at her with an equally befuddled expression. "You're a _pokemon_, but you're _talking!_"

"What? Excuse me, of course I can talk!" The brown bird 'hmph'ed and ruffled its feathers, now looking rather offended. "All pokemon can talk. Some humans just can't understand us."

"Ryan had pokemon," Skye breathed, the word 'had' tasting like acid in her mouth. "But I never understood _them!_"

"Hum…" the hoothoot, well, hummed. "Curious, how curious indeed…"

"That is _not an answer_."

"You asked nothing, my dear. What is there to answer?"

"I just – ugh!" Skye gripped both sides of her head, looking just about ready to pull her head off her shoulders. "I just – why is everything going so horribly _wrong_ today?! Pokemon _talk_ now?! That's _stupid!_ Why does – aaargh!"

"My dear, if I may," the hoothoot interjected slowly. "May I present to you a theory?"

"_What?_" Skye growled, putting just enough scowl to her expression to send the hoothoot back another cautious step.

The brown bird cleared its throat nervously. "Well, I would think that since they weren't your pokemon… then you wouldn't be able to understand them."

"You're not _my_ pokemon either. Why would I be able to understand you?"

"That must then mean you are fated to catch me," the hoothoot trilled, flapping its wings in excitement. "It is destined to be, it seems!"

Skye stared at it flatly. "What use would a hoothoot be for?"

"… Dile," Will grunted after a long silence in which the hoothoot in front of them had gone into shocked silence. Skye wondered if the totodile had said something along the lines of 'nothing'.

"… I say," the hoothoot finally said, with a touch of nervousness in its voice. "You are quite the frightening human."

"Because that was totally a compliment."

"It wasn't."

"I _know_ that–!"

The hoothoot sighed, cutting off the irritated girl's exclamation. "Well, I must insist I join you, now. If anything, I will need to show you _exactly_ how useful us hoothoots can be."

"What if I _don't_ want a hoothoot?" Skye grumbled, though she was already fairly resigned to her fate.

"Well, that's too bad, don't you think?" it trilled. It then gave a sort of curtsy to the girl in front of it, or rather, soon-to-be trainer. "You may call me Lyon. I hope to be of use to you, no matter what it is you may believe."

* * *

Skye didn't consider herself good-looking, or anywhere near it. She was maybe in between, but most of her considered prettiness, according to the girls at school, was due to her long brown hair that had streaks of lighter brown in it. Skye didn't care much for her hair, so cutting it off had been hilariously easy.

Will's teeth had a use, after all. Skye instructed him where exactly to bite on and pull, held her hair up in a ponytail with her hand, and directed at the point. Will complied easily, tearing off a giant portion of her once-long hair and leaving her with unevenly-cut hair that barely reached the nape of her neck.

Really, Skye didn't particularly want to part with the only thing that allowed her the position she was given in the social ladder at school, but right now, school wasn't important in the least. Surviving was her top priority, and dying because she was delayed by her hair getting caught in some tree branch didn't sound very appealing to her. Lyon approved, and commented that her hair looked better short, anyway, but after that part, Skye tuned out whatever else the hoothoot on her shoulder kept chattering about.

The route was oddly silent. While it was a pretty short path and contained few wild pokemon usually, this silence was just plain uncharacteristic. Plus, the aliens should still be here, somewhere, at least one or two – but there wasn't another living thing in the route except for the three of them. Feeling rather unnerved at the silence that was occasionally broken by Lyon's talk, Skye scooped Will up in her arms and placed him close against her chest, perhaps in an attempt to calm her still-fast-beating heart.

The totodile made a sound that was neither approving nor disapproving, and remained quiet after that, too.

The walk continued in tranquility. Or, it would have, had Skye not gotten careless.

She tripped on an overgrown tree root, landing on a rather hard path of ground and releasing Will in the process. The brunette gave a sharp yelp of pain, quickly followed by Will's own hiss – both sounds echoed in the empty route almost threateningly. Skye curses softly, shushing Lyon as he worriedly chirps about her leg (come _on_, it's in _denim_ already, it's like the hoothoot is her _mother_) and snatching Will back up into her arms.

She remembered something she heard, a few months ago. Aliens have sensitive ears and smelling, in exchange for their eyesight. The sound she (and Will, and Lyon) had made – it was sure to attract the aliens from miles away, in New Bark…

There was the sound of rustling leaves and bushes. The brunette does not hesitate before turning around and running as fast as her legs can take her. Lyon chirps in protest, taking to the air and flying beside Skye, while Will keeps quiet, giving out light grunts every time Skye takes a particularly rough leap over a dead log or a fallen tree trunk. It's this time that the brunette's all too grateful she cut her hair, because some of the trees that haven't fallen yet are hanging so low that with every step she takes, a tree branch swings by and smacks her across the face.

The rustling gets louder, and louder, and louder. Skye tries not to scream, starts looking left and right for a hiding place because she knows she can't run forever –

Something crashes into her from the side before she knows it. It's big and yellow and blue and _crackling_. Nothing stops her from the screech that tears out of her mouth, this time, and she scrabbles to get away from the claws pinning her down. Will is immobile, crushed between her and the _creature_, and Lyon is flitting back and forth behind them, trying to dive for an opening, but looking frightened to death –

"Heel, Zin!"

There is a moment of silence punctured by Skye's gasps and Lyon's chattering. The creature (pokemon, Skye sees, now) withdraws slightly, claws no longer stabbing the front of her shirt, and steps back slightly. Its teeth are bared in a growl, light blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. A boy, though he could easily pass as man with his height, casually walks up towards her like a giant manectric _hadn't_ just nearly crushed her and stares her down with cold, steel-gray eyes.

"Get up and tell me your name, now."

The brunette can't even find it in herself to oppose him, and wobbles to her feet, standing unsteadily on her knocking knees. Will stays behind her leg, eyeing the manectric warily, and Lyon flutters to land back on her shoulder, whispering an apology that he couldn't do anything but that pokemon was an _electric-type_ damn it –

"… It's Skye."

"What is your hoothoot telling you?" He asks, again, harshly.

"He's – apologizing. For not doing anything." The brown owl pokemon's talons dig into her skin, not deep enough to elicit blood, but certainly deep enough to cause fleeting moments of pain. "Who're you?"

"Are you an emissary of the aliens?" The man – _boy_, she corrects herself – asks, yet again, seeming not to acknowledge that she had spoken at all. "I will know if you are lying, girl."

'_He asked for my name – he could at least use it…_' "Uh, no."

The boy remains silent. He glances down at the manectric beside him, watches it crackle with frighteningly sharp lightning bolts – and, as it sits down on its haunches and does nothing else besides merely watch Skye with a skeptical eye. The brunette lets out a long breath – then breathes it back in when the boy is suddenly not more than an inch away from her face.

She screams something unintelligible (it might have been 'sexual harassment') and _springs_ out of the way, landing on a rock that she barely manages not to trip and fall on. Lyon chirps, hovering in the air just above her shoulder, but the brunette doesn't even look at him – she's much too busy trying to put as much space as possible between the boy and her without letting him out of her sight.

It's not working. He's faster than he looks.

It's a few more moments of silence before he mumbles, "I go by Kyle."

_Beat._ "What?"

"Kyle. That's my name. You asked, didn't you? Kyle Megarion." He sweeps some of his dark brown hair out of his eyes, looking calm and composed. Skye vaguely notes that his hair is even longer than her own.

"Then, I'm, uh. Skye Noir. Just call me, uh, Skye." The brunette shuffles from foot to foot, now that she's aware that since she's not affiliated with the aliens in any way, the boy – Kyle – has no reason to hurt her. And neither does his manectric, which is the one she's more afraid of, really.

"What are you out here for? Trainers rarely come out, especially ones like you." He eyes her from head to toe, making her a little uncomfortable. "Ever since the aliens, anyway."

"… I want t' find out," she blurts out. "About the aliens. The truth behind them. Why they're _here_. So I can find out where they used t' live and kick them right back there." She didn't exactly mean that, but she certainly meant the part about knowing about the aliens' existence. This seemingly piqued Kyle's interest, as he stopped rummaging through his old brown backpack and looked back up at the brunette, eyebrows raised.

"Is that so, now?"

Skye shifts to hide behind a tree inconspicuously. "… A little. Maybe. Yes. But – I don't know how. That is, I – they're different kinds, and all. I won't survive for long. But I want – just long enough. To know about them. So I can, maybe…" she bites her lip, tears off some dry skin, tastes the blood that she can imagine is her brother's. "Maybe, I mean, avenge him. Ryan."

Kyle doesn't speak. He reaches into his bag and hands the brunette five empty red-and-white spheres. Lyon is inside one in a minute.

* * *

The brunet agrees to travel with her, at least until Cherrygrove. It was more along the lines of Skye tailing him – another human being, cold he may be, is better than no human being at all. Lyon stayed on her shoulder, chattering away quietly, or as quietly as he can, anyway, but Will opted to return back to his pokeball.

"Do you understand your pokemon?" Skye dares to ask, looking up unsurely. Kyle stops, turns to glance at her for a fraction of a heartbeat, then turns back to look in front of him and continues walking. The brunette frowns, mouth twisting to form a soundless curse –

"Sometimes. A little, yes." Comes the unexpected answer. Skye halts in her tracks, Lyon chirping in surprise, but she quickly continues when she realizes he's not looking back to wait for her. "I can hear Zin, but only when it's important. Other times, it's normal pokemon noises. But you–" He stops, turns around to actually look at her this time – "You're a new pokemon trainer. You've only started today. And you can understand a pokemon you just caught."

"I never–"

"No, you didn't tell me anything about yourself." Kyle narrows his eyes, skepticism evident in the sea of gray. "But I do have more than one pokemon."

The grass rustles. Skye jumps nearly a foot in the air and scrambles backwards, clutching Will's pokeball and hand instinctively raising to where Lyon perched on her shoulder. The grass rustles, moves, and –

A cyndaquil. It's a _cyndaquil_.

Skye is tempted to fall over laughing, but there are consequences there that she'd rather not face. She was just frightened to death by a _cyndaquil_, and that cyndaquil had been tracking her ever since New Bark –

She pauses.

Crouches down.

Faces the cyndaquil.

She says, whispers, barely a breath – "Ryan is dead."

The cyndaquil hums, a quick nod. It tilts its head, murmurs something, backs away slowly, but not too warily. It croaks out, smoke spewing from its opened mouth, "Increased."

Skye realizes a second after that the cyndaquil isn't talking to her anymore. Kyle kneels down next to it, stroking its head with two fingers, then mutters something Skye can't hear. The cyndaquil replies something equally unintelligible, then hums again and pads over to Skye. It – it's a she, Skye realizes, through the sound of its voice – sniffs her first, turns her snout haughtily, looks like she's going to head back to her trainer –

But no, she goes even closer to the brunette, clambers up to her hair, and starts smoothing it out.

Kyle almost smiles. Almost.

Instead, though, he gestures for the brunette to follow him as he walks on. Skye fumbles for a moment, makes sure the cyndaquil is alright on its position, then follows.

* * *

It's night when they reach Cherrygrove. Skye doesn't have a watch, but Kyle informs her that it's about nine after a quick glance at the bleak sky. She doesn't want to know how he can tell time by looking into that infinite darkness, and simply decides to find somewhere to sleep.

Cherrygrove is barren. The ground is scorched, and there's not a human or pokemon in sight. There are a few houses and buildings still standing – most of the roofs on them are in tatters, but unless it's going to rain, neither of the trainers care.

The pokemon center is their safest bet. It's tucked away in a little corner, shadowed by hanging trees and cradled by large rocks and boulders. There's a patch of burnt land with dead things on it that might have once been flowers beside the center, and Skye feels a pang of sadness eat away at her heart at the sight of the depressing area. Nevertheless, she follows Kyle inside the building, and envies the boy for being able to hide his emotions so well.

He finds a place to sleep without a word, the only words he speaks being, "I'll be staying here," and, "Good night."

Skye takes a little more time, but she suspects it's only because she's too used to the once-luxury of her home. Lyon is even more active and talkative, which only makes sense, while Skye is quite sure Will's gone to sleep in his pokeball already. The brunette decided on an only slightly-charred couch and lies down on it, head on the armrest, staring up at the cracked ceiling. Lyon's perched on the backrest of the couch and is singing a peaceful nighttime lullaby, which the brunette doesn't mind _too_ much – just that he might attract some unwanted audience from outside, is her problem.

Her eyes are closing fast, but she struggles to keep them open, all the same, because where's the fun in going to sleep so early? She rethinks on a couple of things, and stifles a sob at the memory of Ryan – she cries as silently as she can without looking over at Lyon, though she knows he knows she's crying, it's not at all subtle –

The lullaby goes down a notch in tone. It's a little deeper, a little softer, a little more solemn. She can hear the responding tunes of the hoothoot outside, too – she learned this in music class; round singing, or something. Skye's breath hitches, her eyes are blurring, and she closes them to keep too much of the tears from spilling out –

But she falls asleep, anyway.

* * *

**Word Count: 3400. Whew.**

**Well, introducing Kyle Megarion, and a new teammate, Lyon the hoothoot! I mean, you can't get treeckos in HeartGold so I figured a hoothoot would do. Also, it's annoying, because whenever I type 'hoothoot', I always type 'hoothott' before I Backspace the hell out of that and it just makes me think, oh God, hot hoothoots. See, I spelled it as hoothott again.**

**Anyway. Uh. Er, I was powered by the strength given to me by waffles and syrup, and also good grades, so this update came earlier than expected. Up Next: a new human teammate, and a new pokemon teammate too! Uh, maybe, at least. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!**

_**Slacker, 9/5/14**_


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